The impact of after-school peer contact on early adolescent externalizing problems is moderated by parental monitoring, perceived neighborhood safety, and prior adjustment

Unsupervised peer contact in the after-school hours was examined as a risk factor in the development of externalizing problems in a longitudinal sampl e of early adolescents. Parental monitoring, neighborhood safety, and adole scents' preexisting behavioral problems were considered as possible moderat ors of the risk relation. Interviews with mothers provided information on m onitoring, neighborhood safety, and demographics. Early adolescent (ages 12 -13 years) after-school time use was assessed via a telephone interview in grade 6 (N = 438); amount of time spent with peers when no adult was presen t was tabulated. Teacher ratings of externalizing behavior problems were co llected in grades 6 and 7. Unsupervised peer contact, lack of neighborhood safety, and low monitoring incrementally predicted grade 7 externalizing pr oblems, after controlling for family background factors and grade 6 problem s. The greatest risk was for those unsupervised adolescents living in low-m onitoring homes and comparatively unsafe neighborhoods. The significant rel ation between unsupervised peer contact and problem behavior in grade 7 hel d only for those adolescents who already were high in problem behavior in g rade 6. These findings point to the need to consider individual, family, an d neighborhood factors in evaluating risks associated with young adolescent s' after-school care experiences.